


Threnodies

by zombiefeathers



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Blood Magic, F/M, Gen, Multi, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 04:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3677505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombiefeathers/pseuds/zombiefeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern Gang Wars AU. In a world without Circles, the Kirkwall Chantry has turned to a more personal suppression of illicit magic. All mages in the City of Kirkwall are registered in the Kirkwall Chantry and under strict watch of the militant underground faction of the Chantry, the Templars, headed by Sister Meredith. The Templars' were famed for the casual invasion of mages' homes and the normalization of mage executions, and, in response, mages and their sympathizers struck back via an underground terrorist gang called AbomiNation. The escalating violence between the two gangs puts the citizens of Kirkwall at risk in the crossfire, until it seems to many that choosing a side is the only way to secure if only the illusion of safety. Others, it seems, become wholly invested in these gang politics, becoming so immersed in them that the only way to get out of their situations is to go up in smoke along with their faction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Threnodies

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: Self-harm warning is purely for blood magic stuff and mostly just mentions of scars + stuff. Each chapter opens with a piece of the Chant of Light.  
> Also I wrote this at like 12 in the morning so I might actually scrap this chapter completely - this is just to set mood and tone and stuff for myself mostly and doesn't really help in forwarding plot or anything. Enjoy though! Feedback very much appreciated.

_"In the absence of light, shadows thrive."_  
_-_ Threnodies 8:21

 

According to the glowing red digits on his alarm clock, it was 2:30 on a Tuesday morning when the tinkling sound like the gnashing of the teeth of a smallish fae beast kept the elf from returning to a fitful slumber. The noise, though gentle like a rain of metal on metal, was enough to keep him from falling asleep again.

2:31, 2:32.

He lay in bed, gazing up at the ceiling of his room, watching the patterns of blue light emanating from his tattoos color the peeling paint above him. Maker, was that sound ever going to stop?

2:35.

The sound of something small and metallic falling on concrete, accompanied by a sigh and a very tired, very familiar, _"Shit."  
_

The elf opened the apartment door into the hallway and was met with a woman in her twenties slumped against the door to the apartment across the hall with her head between her knees and a set of keys on the floor by her feet.

"Good morning, Hawke."

The woman looked up. "Fenris? Did I wake you up?"

"Of course not. It's more like you just didn't let me sleep."

"Oh, shit.Look, I'm sorry, man. It's just... it's really dark, and it's late and I'm tired... and..." Her thought was cut off by her own yawn. "Hey, wait a minute, why weren't you sleeping?"

"I told you," said Fenris, bending down to pick up the woman's keys, "you've been out here for five minutes."

"That was _so_  notfive minutes."

The door swung open before them and revealed the inside of another apartment illuminated by an ex-slave's tattoos.

"Was that really so hard?"

"Okay but you're pretty much a walking nightlight. Plus you have night-vision." Hawke passed under the door's threshold and glanced back at the elf. "Are you coming in?"

Fenris scanned the girl's living space, much smaller and emptier than his own. A smallish excuse of a half-kitchen, a moth-eaten couch hiding only a section of the yellowed carpet floor. Two doors shut tight to the side of the couch, a short hallway to the left of the kitchen that led to a small bathroom, and the pervasive snoring of a half-dressed woman lying under a raggedy blanket on the sofa.

"Wouldn't I wake Isabela?"

"I could invite in the sea and everything in it into this room and Isabela would still be sleeping like a log."

"What about Merrill? Merrill would-"

"Merrill's spending the night at Carver's. And, no, Mother's not here either. She got caught late helping with Gamlen's... preparations and called to say she's staying at the Chantry tonight. So you have no other excuse."

"Well-"

"Fenris, please. You can just tell me if you don't want to come in. I understand."

The elf was silent for a while, then walked in behind Hawke and shut the door behind him.

"Alright, then. I'm going to sleep for a few days. Just leave the keys on the counter and help yourself to whatever's in the fridge. If you wanna sleep over you can take Merrill's room. Goodnight, Fenris."

"Goodnight, Hawke."

The girl planted a brief kiss on the top of the elf's head and started for the room behind the couch. As she reached for the door, the sleeve of her hoodie rode up and exposed the skin of her wrist, pink and raw, healing from a wound only recently inflicted.

"Hawke, what's that on your-"

The door shut behind the mage girl.

2:47.


End file.
